


The Third Twin

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Batwoman (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22427929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: Kate and Alice struggle to deal with the arrival of a new Beth following the creation of Earth-Prime, however Alice wonders if she can turn it to her advantage.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 23
Collections: The 100 Multifandom Challenge





	The Third Twin

Kate’s asked herself so many times over the years what kind of childhood she would have had if Beth had been found at the time, had been raised as part of her family. She’s asked herself even more ever since meeting Alice, finding out that her twin had been alive this entire time, that they had literally been inches away from each other and had come so close to rescuing her.

Now there’s this woman in front of her, this Beth, who was raised by the Kanes and thinks of Kate as her sister, and she doesn’t know what the hell to do with that.

Once it had sunk in that this Beth really wasn’t Alice having somehow escaped from Sophie, but must be a Beth Kane from one of the other Earths, one who had been raised by the Kanes, as Jacob’s daughter, Kate’s sister, for a moment she thought it would be easier to try going with it, to accept Beth as her sister, turn her back on Alice. The situation isn’t Beth’s fault; she has no memories of the Crisis, has no idea that multiple earths have ever existed at all. As far as this Beth is concerned, she was raised as part of the Kane family, Kate is her sister and her best friend.

In a lot of ways, it would have been easier to just accept this gift, a Beth who had been returned to her, even if she wasn’t the Beth that Kate had spent the first few years of her life with. Yet it wasn’t that easy for Kate to pretend. She’d tried spending time with Beth, but it was just weird hearing Beth talk about things like funny stories about things her version of their father had done on a family trip to Central City when they were sixteen, and then Beth’s face falling as she remembered that the Kate in front of her now had never taken that trip. Kate hears Beth talking about the great childhood she had, and struggles with the feelings of knowing that if things had gone differently that childhood could have been hers. 

The media’s latched on to the story, Beth Kane returned after so many years. They’re trying to make it work, and Beth’s been going along with it, telling a story suggested by Kate that is similar enough to Alice’s own, smiling for the cameras along with Kate, and yet the smiles belie their thoughts away from the cameras. This is the Beth that Kate has always wanted, and yet she isn’t Alice. While Kate knows it would be so much easier to accept Beth as the sister she always wanted, to turn her back on Alice as though she never existed, she also knows it’s not as simple as that. Beth’s finding it upsetting every time something happens to remind her that Kate really doesn’t know her at all, that the life she had thought she knew is over now with no way of sending her back to it. 

Kate’s going to try and make it work, to try and help Beth settle into this earth, to her new family. Maybe in time it will become easier for her to think of this Beth as her sister, to stop thinking of what could have been with Alice.

When Alice had first heard the news that Beth Kane had allegedly been found alive after so many years, she didn’t know what to think. This woman, this thing, was taking her place in the family, and Kate was just letting her? Alice read the news coverage in the papers that she probably shouldn’t be allowed to see, sees photos of “Kate and Beth Kane, reunited after so many years”, and wants to rip them all to shreds.

Who is this other Beth, taking HER place in Kate’s life, and Kate just letting her? SHE was Kate’s sister. Their father may have given her up for dead, that woman he married had claimed those animal bones were hers, but Kate had never given up hope. Alice had done so much for her; got their father out of the way to prison, killed Catherine, and what was she getting in return? Kate accepting this other person publicly as her sister, smiling for the cameras with her arms around her, rejecting Alice without a second thought?

She couldn’t understand how it was even possible at first. Then she’d sent Mouse in to try and find out what had happened, and he’d come back with some crazy story about alternate Earths, and Alice realised who this Beth must be. Ugh, the version of her from whatever Earth she had come from originally was boring as hell. All that lank hair, dull clothes, Alice wants to yawn just looking at her.

Then she realises there might be a way she can turn this to her advantage.

Sure, it involves having to become dull Beth for a while, but she’ll do what she has to do. It’s gonna require her getting out of this hellhole, but she’s sure Mouse can find a way to help with that. Then once she’s free, all she has to do is take Beth’s place. She, Alice, is Kate’s real sister, and with Beth out of the picture, she will finally get a chance to prove that.


End file.
